This invention relates generally to lighting devices and, more particularly, to a toilet bowl lighting device that is actuated upon detection of motion so long as the level of ambient light is below a predetermined level. In other words, the motion activated toilet bowl lighting device is configured to energize a light situated adjacent a toilet bowl when a person enters a bathroom while the bathroom light is off.
Turning a light on when entering a bathroom in the middle of the night after being asleep or otherwise in a darkened room can be an uncomfortable or undesirable experience in that the bright lights may seem almost blinding. In other words, the lights of the bathroom seem overly bright when a person's eyes have naturally adjusted to the darkness. After using the toilet and turning off the lights, it may then be difficult to navigate back to bed in that the person's eyes must readjust to the darkness. For these reasons, a person may choose not to turn the lights on at all when walking into a bathroom which leads to obvious difficulties of potentially stumbling over obstacles, finding the toilet, or actually using the toilet.
Various devices have been proposed in the art for providing a soft or dim light in a bathroom at night, such as a nightlight, or for energizing a light attached to a toilet bowl when the toilet bowl lid is raised. Although assumably effective for their intended purposes, the existing devices do not satisfy the need to energize a light situated in the toilet bowl when a person is detected entering the bathroom and then for de-energizing the light either when the person is detected leaving the bathroom or after a predetermined amount of time.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a motion activated toilet bowl lighting device that may be positioned on the rim of a toilet bowl having a light positioned toward the interior of the toilet bowl and that energizes the light when motion in the room is detected. Further, it would be desirable to have a motion activated toilet bowl lighting device that is only activated when the ambient light in the room is below a predetermined level. In addition, it would be desirable to have a motion activated toilet bowl lighting device that deactivates the light after a predetermined time after being energized.